Crossroads
by Shino Kouen
Summary: Meeting at the crossroads? Not quite. The posse loads into a rented car for a harmless trip to Galbadia, but a squabble has Seifer loosing control of the car... but who did they crash into, and what happened to them? Chapters two & three added, getting
1. Accident

XXXX CROSSROADS XXXX  
  
  
  
A blur.  Sunlight in the window.  
  
"Let's go to Galbadia today."  
  
Rushed movements. Pile into the rental car.  
  
Where to go?  Anargument between two males.  Angryshouts and voices.  
  
Frantic cry in the back seat.  "SEIFER!! CAR!!"  
  
Five seconds.  
  
Shearing metal; breaks; squealing tires.   
  
SCRRRRRREEEEEEEEECHHHHHHHHH!  
  
Momentary silence.  Agroan.  
  
"Shit," gruff male's voice. "You guys okay?"  
  
"I… I think my leg's broken, ya know?"  
  
No answer from the third member of the posse.    
  
"Fujin?  You okay?"  
  
No answers.    
  
"Fujin?!"  
  
"Can you see her, Raijin? I'm stuck…"  
  
Fatal was the back seat ride.  
  
"Oh God,"  
  
"What?  What do yousee?"  
  
"The…blood!  Oh, God,the BLOOD!"  
  
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The Galbadian doctor pursed her lips as she studies herclipboard.  Kids today.  Never kept their eyes on the road.  She grumbled some incoherent curses underher breath as the bulky young man with dark skin pestered her for the fifthtime in the half hour.  
  
"Is she gonna be okay doc? I'm worried, ya know?  Can we seeher?"  
  
"She's still in surgery, you can see her later."  _For the thousandth and last time!_  
  
His friend in the gray trench coat, who'd been driving thecar, was more silent.  In fact he didn'ttalk at all.  He ran his fingers overthe gauze bandage around his forehead, trying to mask his wince as a stifled cough.  The annoying one hobbled over tohim on crutches, his leg in a cast up to his mid-thigh, and eased himself down into a chair next to his leader.  
  
"She'll be okay, right, Seifer?  Just lost a little blood, ya know, right?"  
  
Seifer lifted his head from his fingers, gazed silently athis friend for a few moments, then resumed his former pose, then muttered hisfirst words since going into the ER for stitches.  "Lay off it, Raijin."  
  
They sat in silence for nearly ten minutes.  The Galbadian doctor left the room and cameback twice, only to find them still sitting in those positions.  Finally, on her third trip, the blonde one spoke up.   
  
"How did…" he seemed to hate having to ask the question.  "The people…in the other car…what happened to them?"  
  
The doctor heaved a heavy, sorrow-filled sigh.  "I'm afraid one of them didn't make it," He let slip a heart-wrenching wince.  "But the others should be okay in a few days."  
  
Seifer swallowed hard and turned away from the doctor.  His stomach felt full of icy water.  He sat shakily again by his friend in one of the waiting roomchairs.   His eyes did a once over ofthe room and he noticed a girl he hadn't seen before.  She was sitting on a chair by the window, forehead resting on the cool glass, her left arm in a sling, held in place over her stomach by herright hand.  Strings of brown hair curtained her eyes, but tears were still visible as they made a stream down herface.    He knew this girl.  He prayed with all of his might that she wasn't one of the survivors of the car crash.   
  
  
  
Selphie Tilmitt stood as a door on the far side of the waiting room stood.  It relieved her tosee her friends walking through the door, but her stomach filled with fear,nonetheless.  Quistis Trepe was holding her head down, and Zell Dincht looked as if he'd seen a ghost.  Something told her that the news was not good, but that didn't kill the persistent little glimmer of hope in her heart.  
  
Upon reaching the tiny brunette, Quistis slowly lifted herhead, revealing tear-streaked cheeks, and a swollen black eye, accompanied by many cuts and bruises.  Zell's face andarms boasted burn marks from an air bag, not to mention a long gash that ran from his forehead to his right ear. Zell acknowledged Selphie and shook his head sadly.  The poor girl nearly collapsed.  He caught her in his arms, winced, but heldher steady.  Quistis wrapped her armsaround both of them and they wept together.   
  
Moments later a quadruplet entered the hospital from themain gate.  Cid and Edea Kramer led theway over to the group, while the new Squall and Rinoa Leonhart followed behind,fingers linked embraced by other fingers.  
  
Seifer stopped watching the Balamb group to study a rip onthe sleeve of his trench coat where blood had seeped through.  He'd killed a man.  After all those years and all those promises to his posse thathe'd never kill another human being, he'd done it, not to mention one of those Balamb Garden SeeDs!  He needed to get out of there!  He needed to get outfast!  
  
Standing, he attempted to slip into the hallway unnoticed.  His head began to swim,throbbing above his eyebrow, where he had been cut deeply.  
  
"Seifer?  Where're you going?"  
  
"Bathroom, Raijin," a panicked voice. Not normal for the blonde boy. The room started to spin.  Swirling mix of colors of the Balamb Garden citizens.    
  
Edea's voice, "Seifer? What are you doing here?"  
  
Memories.  NO!  NO MEMORIES!    
  
All a blur.  
  
Cold, cold, hospital floor.  
  
  
[end first chapter]  



	2. Identification

XXXX CROSSROADS XXXX  
~Chapter Two~  
  
It all starts with a click, sort of like a machine being turned on.  
  
Beep.  
  
A sudden dizziness. Swim back to consciousness.   
  
Beep....beep...beep...  
  
Heart monitor. Machines aren't fun to deal with. Life is starting to tingle slowly in the limbs. Wiggle a toe. Twitch an arm. Note the obviousness of an IV needle feeding a vein near the elbow.   
  
Beep...beep...beep...  
  
Black becomes gray. Eyelids flutter. Gray becomes a blurred painting of color. Abstract. Focus...focus... Etched lines become clear. White. White everything. White wall, white floor, white ceiling. White sheets, white table, white telophone, white curtains. Black television, a smudge of charcoal on canvas, out of place in the sterile whiteness of the hospital room. White nurse in white clothes.   
  
"How are you feeling?" Voice to match the dullness of room and her clothes.  
  
"Dizzy. Tired."  
  
"Well, that's normal. Good...good..." Scan the white papers with calculations and statistics scrambled in typed words. "The IV contains morphine, a narcotic to kill the pain from your operation. You suffered a puncture wound to the stomach, but we believe you'll be okay."  
  
"Zell? Selphie? Quistis? How are they?"  
  
A slightly confused look. "They've had a few mishaps, but they'll be okay."  
  
"Can I see them?" Urgent pleading.  
  
More confusion. "Don't you want to see your own friends?"   
  
"Friends? They are my friends!!"  
  
Large, brown-skinned man bursts through the door, grin sloppily painted onto his face, hobbling clumsily on crutches.   
  
Confusion from both original parties, but more from the nonprofessional.   
  
"Raijin? What're you doing here?!"  
  
"Why wouldn't I be here? You got banged up pretty bad, ya know?" Naive stupidity prevents further explanation.  
  
"What happened to your leg?"  
  
"The car crash, ya know?"  
  
"You were in a car crash too?"  
  
Silly grin becomes another dumbfounded look in the collage. "You don't remember?"  
  
Panic enters the morphine-saturated mind. "Why are you in my room?! Why can't I see my friends!? I wan't to see Selphie! I want to see Selphie!"  
  
White-clad Nurse steps to the bedside to console the delirious. "There, there, you're just confused. Relax for a little while, and perhaps you can see Selphie in an hour or so." Turns to the larger man, ushering him out to the hallway where they can speak.   
  
"That's not like Fujin, ya know? She doesn't usually speak in normal sentences, and she doesn't think too fondly of Selphie. I wonder why..."  
  
A hand is rests on his arm to calm him. "The morphine and the accident may have caused confusion, but I don't know how she knows about the people from the other car. No one's told her about them."   
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Clocks are logical. They tic away patiently like there's not a care in the world.   
  
Seifer Almasy, however, was not logical, nor was he patient. He paced white tiles of the waiting room that he'd earlier passed out on. Lack of blood had made him dizzy, the doctors had explained. Not that he cared. He needed to know what had happened to Fujin. If she died...  
  
The room spins for a second, and he stops his never-ending journey. It's been five minutes since he came to. He will NOT think such things of his posse!   
  
A female doctor enters the room, closely pursued by Raijin. She surveys the blonde, then glances behind him at the Balamb-dwellers still huddled in the corner.   
  
"...Well?" Impatient Seifer demands. "How IS she?"   
  
The doctor notes that he's become a lot more talkative since his revival. After a moment's consideration she decides that there's no point in keeping things from the young man with a violent reputation. "She wants to see Selphie."  
  
"SELPHIE?! What the hell for?!"   
  
His painfully loud outburst attracts attention from the group across the room. The doctor winces, and is rescued of explanation by Raijin.  
  
"She's not herself, ya know? She's talking in full sentences, and she didn't remember that I was in the car."  
  
Selphie Tilmitt sticks her head into the conversation. "Excuse me? I'd like to know why I'm being spoken of..." Her usual cheery voice sounds heartbreakingly sad.  
  
Raijin continues to babble on. "Fujin wants to see you!"  
  
"Fujin?" She is confused. "What for?"  
  
Raijin shrugs his heavy shoulders. "No clue, ya know?"  
  
"Well..." Selphie considers a moment. "Okay..." She follows the doctor to the room in which the silver-haired girl is being dormed.   
  
The frail girl's face brightens immediately. "Selphie!! They let you come see me, thank goodness! I was afraid they'd lock me up in here forever all by myself?"  
  
Selphie blinked a wave of confusion back. "Why'd you want to see me?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Well, I didn't think you liked me much, for starters..."  
  
"Aw, Sefie, you know I love you..!"  
  
Shock often strikes like a bullet, forcing the receiver to take five seconds to realize what has happened before turning their brains back on. "Sefie? That's what...wait a second. Tell me your name."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just tell me your name!"  
  
"It's Irvine, Selphie. Irvine Kinneas!"  
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[end chapter two]  
  



	3. Confusion

XXXX CROSSROADS XXXX  
~Chapter Three~  
  
Circumstance sometimes brings the unexpectable together.  
  
Squall Leonhart, often considered a leader, sits with a stone-like scowl his face, across from Seifer in a circle of nine. He notes that his rival is paled, though it doesn't strike him that it may be a look of concern for his comrade.   
  
"I just don't understand," comments the former-knight. "She thinks she's Irvine?"  
  
A moment where Fujin might've answered with affirmation.   
  
"It just doesn't make sense! How did she know that Irvine was..." A sniffle from Selphie cuts off Seifer's monologue.  
  
Quistis pats the brunette's hand reassuringly, but doesn't refrain from making a conclusive suggestion. "Do you think maybe while she was unconscious her soul...well, no, that can't be it."  
  
Silence falls on the group, but curiosity nags at their minds. Rinoa, sometimes the bravest to speak, parts her painted lips to ask. "Quistis..?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What -about- Fujin's soul?"  
  
"I, uh...I was just thinking that..." she lets her voice trail into a lull of silence.   
  
"Well?" Zell prompts, his own defensive shell caving in to the need to know; to see clearly.  
  
"Maybe she...maybe Irvine's soul came in contact with Fujin's, and..." Saying an idea to its fullest often becomes intensely difficult. Luckily for Quistis, however, Rinoa picks up on what she attempted to say.  
  
"Maybe they switched places?"  
  
"Yes, exactly," but said without enthusiasm.   
  
"It's a possibility," Squall decides, "but...it just seems..."  
  
"Unrealistic," Seifer heaves a great sigh.   
  
This time, the silence seems to suffocate.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Conversation. Two unwilling persons.  
  
Glass of water; clipboard; scribbled response. What to ask?  
  
"What day did it happen?"  
  
An eye rolls in irritation. "Yesterday."  
  
"Why were you in the car?"  
  
"Shopping."  
  
"Who was in the car with you?"  
  
"I told you all ready?" Annoyed.  
  
Pause. Sip of water. Scribbled: Exhibit of anger. Persistence. "Tell me again."  
  
"Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe."  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Irvine Kinneas."  
  
"Who was driving the car?"  
  
"Zell. Why all the questions, doc?"  
  
"Routine. Need to know what happened in the accident."  
  
"You do this for every car accident?"  
  
"Yes. What happened in your case? What seat were you in?"  
  
"Front passenger seat."  
  
"Do you remember what happened?"  
  
"Yes. Zell was joking around. Wasn't paying attention until we saw the other car coming at us, out of control. We tried to swerve out of the way, but..."  
  
"You crashed. The other car hit on your side, right?"  
  
"The back swung around and rammed into me, yes. There was a lot of glass..."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
No answer. Silence. Stares into space.  
  
"Irvine?"  
  
"I don't remember." No tone of voice. Dead.  
  
"Try to think of it, for me."  
  
No response.  
  
"Irvine?"  
  
Eyes roll back in the head. Lids flutter. Body spasms violently.   
  
"Irvine?!" Too far gone. Run out to the hall. Get help. "I need help! She's having a seizure!"  
  
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[end chapter four]  
  



End file.
